ive just started on agency and i have been advised to join up with maddison,agency bloke reckons id be 20-30 quid a week better off.
i`m currently travelling 54 miles a day,which is costing me about a tenner a day.am i right in thinking that i lose holiday pay if i get paid through an umbrella.
maddison say they take a fee of 20 quid a week,so in return i get;
£121.50 milage
£25-£50 meal allowance
£4 laundry
that sounds like a no brainer to me,but i was allways told if anything sounds too good to be true it is,am i a plank or is it worth looking into
commonrail:
do you think it would work well for me
If you’re doing that mileage then yes. But if you’re going to use one then you must put mileage and other expenses in otherwise it can work out you’ll be better off on PAYE. When I used to have a nova managed service company there was some rule about not working for the same client all the time but that was an MSC and not an umbrella and it might be different. Make sure your agency pay you at least a pound an hour more for not having to do your payroll or pay your holiday entitlements.
commonrail:
so you think the agency would pay more if i went umbrella…surely not
Most do. Many are eager to get you to join their particular umbrella scheme too because they get an introduction bonus for it. It would be very poor if your agency didn’t pay you a higher rate.
Your agency don’t then have to pay you holiday money, but the umbrella company have to put aside so much of what the agency pay to them on your behalf as holiday. You then have to claim this back from your umbrella company which can be a sight lot easier than getting an agency to cough up in my experience.
As part of your job you may need an iPad, mobile phone, satnav, etc. So if you buy one, put in an expenses form for it and you can a fair amount back from your taxes, but don’t expect to get it all back.
One of the pitfalls to avoid is when people put contract mobile phones on their expenses because then they are only meant to be used for business calls.
You could probably save yourself £20 every other week by arranging for the agency to pay you fortnightly rather than weekly.
If you do not need to back up your mileage claim with fuel receipts you can easily exaggerate your weekly mileage.
Also you need to be doing 4 or 5 shifts a week to make it worthwhile - 2 or 3 is no good,
you would then be better off on PAYE.
axletramp:
If you do not need to back up your mileage claim with fuel receipts you can easily exaggerate your weekly mileage.
You don’t usually need reciepts, just a rough mileage estimate seems to be enough but you will have to document start and finish locations.
I forgot to mention the expenses you can put in for workwear, maps, work-related training (DCPC, ADR, etc.), overnight stays and so on. More of it is covered here: hmrc.gov.uk/guidance/480.pdf
It is well advisable to keep a folder and to retain all the reciepts and keep copies of your forms for some time however.
commonrail:
ive just started on agency and i have been advised to join up with maddison,agency bloke reckons id be 20-30 quid a week better off.
i`m currently travelling 54 miles a day,which is costing me about a tenner a day.am i right in thinking that i lose holiday pay if i get paid through an umbrella.
maddison say they take a fee of 20 quid a week,so in return i get;
£121.50 milage
£25-£50 meal allowance
£4 laundry
that sounds like a no brainer to me,but i was allways told if anything sounds too good to be true it is,am i a plank or is it worth looking into
Laundry is £2.-
household is £2.-
a week both
then Meal Allowence
if work a shift over 5 hour is £5.-/day
if work over 10 hour is £10.-/Day
or Receipe of meal every day.
(Had by TK Maxx every day Beef Stroganov with Drinks,Tiramisu with Coffee for £35.- about each Time
You also put Working Boots,Gloves and so from Tax
last time i was on the agency they paid me an extra £2 an hour when i went to nova…could claim mileage…40p a mile(but there are annual limits)i was asked to provide feul receipts,2 item laundry a day at £2.20 each…meals…£5 a meal…you could claim up to 3 a day depending on hours worked…5hrs…1…over 10 hrs 2…you need to night out to claim 3 but then you loose out on feul claims?.you buy a satnav…put the bill in…phone bills could be submitted but had to have the buisness calls highlighted…hgv medicals…put the bill in.
you need to be able to claim over a certain amount for it to be worthwhile…with umbrella co. as well as covering your holiday pay you have to cover the employers ni contributions…i think you may be as well going self employed?only pay £2 something a week ni.
xamtex:
…i think you may be as well going self employed?only pay £2 something a week ni.
It’s a bit more than that - the £2.50 odd a week is your class2 contributions then you pay a percentage of ‘company’ profits after that.
Make sure you find out as much info as possible - it may even be worth a quick chat with the local tax office (they don’t bite & are actually very helpful) to clarify any points you’re not clear on because one thing you can be certain about is that if you screw up on your tax/NI, Maddison etc. will not help you out - the small print of their contract will make sure you are totally responsible for your own tax affairs…
You dont actually get those figures (40p a mile etc etc), what you get is those figures offset against your tax so in real terms the 40p a mile is actually worth about 8p a mile.
Only ever use an umbrella for the job it was intended, if it’s raining.
If its not the raining kind they’re an absolute waste of time, and I’d never ever pay £20 to use someone elses,
My own £19.99 one does the job perfectly well albeit with a little effort from myself to use it, but I get ALL the benefits from it without sharing.
xamtex:
…i think you may be as well going self employed?only pay £2 something a week ni.
It’s a bit more than that - the £2.50 odd a week is your class2 contributions then you pay a percentage of ‘company’ profits after that.
Make sure you find out as much info as possible - it may even be worth a quick chat with the local tax office (they don’t bite & are actually very helpful) to clarify any points you’re not clear on because one thing you can be certain about is that if you screw up on your tax/NI, Maddison etc. will not help you out - the small print of their contract will make sure you are totally responsible for your own tax affairs…
I had just a check by Tax office and got £45.- back
peirre:
Only ever use an umbrella for the job it was intended, if it’s raining.
If its not the raining kind they’re an absolute waste of time, and I’d never ever pay £20 to use someone elses,
My own £19.99 one does the job perfectly well albeit with a little effort from myself to use it, but I get ALL the benefits from it without sharing.
mac12:
Anyone working for an agency can claim mileage back on form P87 from tax office.
You can claim for many other things on the P87 too, its basically the expenses form that everyone uses
If you google “Tax form P87” its the 1st thing that comes up, a 4 page .pdf
Though a copy is available HERE
fill in the details of who you worked for, where you worked & how many miles you travelled.
download a copy of P87, fill it in (1 copy per employer/agency), wait until the end of the tax year. As you can`t claim 2011/2012 mileage until then. But you can claim for several previous years if you have some form of evidence to support it. then wait for the cheque to drop through the letter box
commonrail:
think ill wait till after christmas see how much work there is.if im not doing the milage then i dont think itll be worth it
NOVA used to say on their website that unless you’re earning over £300 a week and can submit £100 of expenses every single week then you are better being on PAYE.
They do have a handy calculator so you can see for yourself if you are better off:
